i have a dilemma...

next week i'm going to put the girls down for just one nap a day. here is what our schedule would be (based on their waking up in the morning and going to bed at night)

6:30 - wake
7:30 - breakfast/milk
11:30 - lunch/milk
12:00/12:30 - nap
2:30-ish - big snack
6:00 -dinner
7:15 - milk
7:30 - bed

this could work, HOWEVER, we go to church every sunday. church is from 10am to about 12pm . how in the world do i work in their lunch here? and nap? do i give them nutrigrain bars and snack-type foods in church (cuz i can't put bibs on them and feed them hot lunches right there in the pews lol), then when church is over put them down for nap, then after nap give them a meal? did i just answer my own question? :huh:

 

Wow! They are already ready for one nap a day? Yikes!!

I would say maybe have some cut up fruit, crackers, etc to give them and then bring them home and put them down. My little guy varies his nap within an hour usually with no horrific consequences. He still goes to bed by 8 PM. Good luck with the transition!!!

 

Only you know if you are really ready for this. They might need 2 naps still, but you can do 2 naps on some days when they are really tired. That would solve the Sunday issue right? They could nap before and after?

 

I'M not ready, but they are lol they are showing signs... they take FOREVER to actually fall asleep - IF they fall asleep. and chances are good that if they fall asleep in the morning, they won't fall asleep in the afternoon. or if they DON'T fall asleep in the morning, they WILL fall asleep in the afternoon, but only for a short time! ugh.

 

Just an FYI, at that age, my 2 were showing signs of dropping to 1 nap, too. I even tried it for a week but it did NOT go well. I'd say, from 12-14 mos, there were a LOT of times that I thought we'd be doing 1 nap, but always made myself wait a while & they always got back into their groove. My boys are 16 1/2 mos & just now are starting to truly transition to 1 nap. I held out the transition because a LOT of people here told me to wait & I'm soooo glad I did. If I were you, I'd give it a little more time. They seem so young to switch. That being said, I know a LOT of people who transitioned to 1 nap around that age & did fine. I'm just sooo glad I held onto ours as long as I could! (I'm starting our transition now, but will still do 2 nap days when I need to).

 

We went to one nap around that age too. I think lots of snacks during church is a good idea. Maybe when you get home, give them some milk before the nap, and then feed them lunch when they wake up.

You might find that staying up until noon is hard for them. Mine wake up around the same time and take their nap around 11 am. We do a snack with milk around 10:30, then lunch after they wake up.

 

Most show signs right after 12 mos. and then when the parent sticks with it and keeps them to the schedule, (could need tweaking) they go back to 2 naps. MOST babies aren't ready at this age.

 

sounds like a REALLY long day. That's longer than my 3 y/o's. They get up at 7am and go to bed at 7pm with one nap about noon.

I am not sure if you are asking about if you should start them at 1 nap or not but I doubt they are ready. None of my 4 kids were ready at that age.

Personally, If I had to go to go to 1 nap at that age, I would have them going to bed by 6pm.

 

Mine switched to 1 nap at 1 year with no problems at all ... Daycare did it ... all their 12 month olds switch, and mine had no issues ... they slept 7pm-7am with a 2.5 hour nap mid day (usually 123-230 or 3pm) and they are still on this schedule today. So if you want to give it a try, go for it!

But WOW that's a long church ... I second preparing lots of food in little plastic bags and just giving it to them as needed ... oh, and park yourself towards the back of the church too ... because they may not make it. I know when mine first starting transitioning, they were going down closer to 11 or 1130am ... and most important, good luck!

 

Looks like a good schedule to me with two caveats. Like Erica said, you may find that your girls need to nap earlier than noon with a 6:30 wake. My girls wake at 6:30 and when we switched to one nap at 14 months they napped from 11 - 1, now they can stay up until 11:30, but much beyond that they melt down. For what it's worth, we had no problems with a transition to one nap at 14 months. They were totally ready and are much happier little people with only one nap.

My other thought for you is that you may need to move bedtime earlier. I know that when we switched to one nap, my girls were rubbing their eyes and basically begging to go to sleep 1/2 hour earlier than before. This is our schedule:

6:30 wake up
6:45 milk
7:15 breakfast
11:00 lunch
11:30 - 1:30 nap
2:00 snack
5:00 dinner
6:00 milk
6:30 bed

 

I dont know anything about church etiquette, would it be acceptable to bring a snack with you? Like some fishies or cheerios and milk for them to munch on there? They they could have lunch and a nap when they get home.

 

I would:

a) not take them to church -- leave them home with a sitter!

b) make sure they get 12 hours at night if you go down to one nap

c) remember that it could be one step forward, two steps back with the one-nap transition. It took mine at least two months, probably three, to really get it.

But if you have to, then yes, do snacks like cheese and crackers at church, and then give them lunch and put them down for a nap when you get home. I don't think they could wait until after nap to have lunch -- they'll never sleep for you if they're hungry!

 

We went to one nap before a year, so I am not surprised they are ready for one nap now.

If it were me, I would work on the nap thing for a week or two before trying to add church into the mix...get them used to the new schedule...and you will see if it needs tweaked at all for them. I found that my idea of how our day would break down was different than my kids needed, and I had to adjust to make the schedule fit them better. I would be willing to bet that you will find your schedule will be tweaked a bit before it is all said and done.

Anyhow, once you do get onto the new schedule, if lunch time happens during church, you could offer some cheese cut up in snack cups and some cheerios in snack cups, or something like that, to tide them over until after church, then give them the rest of the food.

 

Few notes:
Mine did go to one nap at that age
AND...
we stopped going to church for months. Yes... and we are both seminary graduates and I am an ordained pastor.
But we went for Sunday School and then went home instead of going to church. Sorry, but with four kids, we were outnumbered! We are JUST beginning to go back to church now.